Parallelism in a Main-Memory DBMS: The Performance of PRISMA/DB

This paper evaluates the performance of the parallel, main-memory DBMS, PRISMA/DB. First, an architecture for parallel query execution is presented. A performance model for the execution of simple relational operations on this architecture is developed. The parameters in the model are set using experiments on PRISMA/DB and the performance of PRISMA/DB is analized in the context of the model. Several conclusions can be drawn from the model combined with the results of the performance experiments. Firstly, the performance of PRISMA/DB appears to be competitive with respect to other systems. Secondly, the developed model can explain the results from the performance experiments to a large extent. Also, it is concluded that observed linear speedup for small numbers of processors cannot always be extrapolated to larger numbers of processors. Finally, it is concluded that the optimal number of processors for the parallel execution of an operation is smaller for a mainmemory system than for a...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1992
• Where: VLDB
• Authors: Annita N. Wilschut, Jan Flokstra, Peter M. G. Apers
• Keywords: Database, Model, Parallel Query Execution, Performance, VLDB 1992